In 1916, after lengthy deliberation, the College Board of Trustees appointed Elmer
George Peterson to the office of president. A native of Utah, Peterson was born at
Plain City. After graduating from the College in 1904 he studied at the University
of Chicago and later earned his doctorate from Cornell. Peterson attended the
College during the presidency of William J. Kerr, who had since taken the presidency
at the Oregon State Agricultural College. After Peterson's graduation from Cornell,
Kerr offered him an appointment in bacteriology, which he accepted in 1910. Two
years later he returned to Utah to become Director of Extension.

After settling into his new position, he proposed to and married Phebe Almira Nebeker
from Laketown, Rich County, Utah. The two had carried on a courtship since they were
both students in 1904.

After four years as Director of Extension, Peterson was elected president.(1) The
Board's resolve to elevate Peterson ( or E.G. as he became affectionately known) to
the executive post was a landmark decision. Peterson became the first graduate of
the college to become president, and at age 34 the youngest chief executive at a
land grant college in the U.S.(2)

If there had been some trepidation on the part of Board members regarding Peterson's
age and inexperience their concerns soon dissipated. Scarcely had he assumed control
of the college than the U.S. entered the First World War. Peterson immediately
volunteered the services of the college to Uncle Sam as a military training center,
and by 1917 the College began looking like a "veritable West Point".(3)

Peterson boldly proposed to the State Legislature and to Governor Simon Bamberger
that brick buildings be built instead of the customary wooden structures to house
military trainees.(4) Although Peterson had no way of knowing how long the war would
last, he realized that the permanence of the brick buildings could be used to double
the size of the campus once peace resumed.

With the end of hostilities in 1918, he now began to cultivate prospective students
in order to utilize the added space. By 1925 the enrollment at the college had
soared to 2,149. This was a 50% increase over the pre-war figures of 1916.5 With
more than adequate facilities to accommodate additional students, Peterson set about
to recapture some of the curricular ground lost during the 1905 consolidation
controversy. In 1921 he successfully petitioned the legislature to restore pedagogy.
With passage of the 1927 Peters Bill, all course work except law and medicine was
reinstated.(6)

The timeliness of Peterson's push for additional courses of study cannot be
overemphasized. In a few short years the country would enter the Great Depression,
and with State budgets severely curtailed expanding the curriculum would not have
been favorably viewed by the State Legislature.(7)

After guiding the institution through the First World War, Peterson took control
during the Depression and war years that followed. At the close of World War II, he
resigned his post, and became President Emeritus. Peterson remained unwaveringly
loyal to the college, however, even returning as interim president during the
tumultuous period of 1953 and 1954. In 1958, at the age of 76, E.G. passed away,
after giving over 50 years of service to the State of Utah and to the College he
helped establish. In eulogizing President Peterson, President of the Faculty
Association Don Carter stated that "Whatever contribution ( the University) makes in
the future will be indelibly marked by the intelligent wisdom, the warm humanity and
immortal spirit of Elmer George Peterson.(8)

The papers of Elmer George Peterson constitute one of the more remarkable sources for
the study of Utah State University's history. Spanning the era from 1916 to 1946,
the papers encompass both World Wars, the Great Depression, and embrace a crucial
period of transition for the Agricultural College.

The papers are unique in their breadth and depth. Peterson was immersed in nearly all
aspects of the institution. He functioned without the benefit of subordinate
administrative officers. All institutional business eventually crossed the
president's desk. As chief administrative officer Peterson was involved with
recruitment and hiring of faculty, budgetary and fiscal matters, students affairs,
buildings and grounds, as well as being the primary spokesperson for the College.

The papers are arranged chronologically and alphabetically in folders designated
Miscellaneous Correspondence, from Box 1 thru Box 130. It is assumed that the
arrangement is original to the filing system employed by the President's long time
Secretary, Miss Vera Carlson.

Box 135 begins a collection of speeches and articles collected by the President,
primarily those given by members of the College faculty. These are arranged
alphabetically by author. Box 138 begins the collection of articles authored by the
President, which are arranged alphabetically by title or subject.

Also extant in this collection is the President's correspondence with outside
organizations having relevance to the College, as well as correspondence with the
Director of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and Director of the Utah
Cooperative Extension Service. The Experiment Station functioned as the research arm
of the College, and was founded simultaneous with the College in 1888. The Extension
Service was founded in 1914, and served as a means of propagating College research
for the benefit of Utah's population. Peterson served as the first Director of
Extension, prior to his appointment as President.

Boxes 157 thru 166 contain incoming and outgoing correspondence between the President
and specific faculty members within the College's various departments. These are
organized alphabetically.

Correspondence with the College Board of Trustees, the institution's governing body,
follows and is chronologically arranged in Boxes 167 thru 170. Correspondence
between Peterson and the Branch Colleges at Cedar City (now Southern Utah
University) and Ephraim (Snow College) are in Box 171.

Budgetary materials are housed in Boxes 172 thru 178, and include the correspondence
and reports of Secretary/Treasurer John L. Coburn (1916-1922), and Russell E.
Bernston (1922-1945.) Coburn and Bernston served dual positions as both Secretary to
the Board of Trustees and as Treasurer.

There is a general paucity of materials relating to Student Affairs (Box 183-184) and
to Athletics (Box 186). Of particular importance, however, is the collection of
materials documenting the National Summer School (NSS). The NSS was Peterson's
attempt to broaden the educational scope of the College and to circumvent
legislative mandates that had restricted the College from offering certain
curricula. Launched in 1924, the NSS materials contain a wealth of correspondence
with some of the most prominent educators, teachers and practitioners in the U.S.
Included is correspondence (both incoming and outgoing) between Peterson and Charles
Eliot, David Starr Jordan, Frederick Jackson Turner, Henry C. Cowles, Liberty Hyde
Bailey and Ann Carroll Moore.

Lastly, the E.G. Peterson Papers contain detailed information on the College's
experience during World War I and World War II. While some of the chronological
correspondence contained throughout the collection also addresses these experiences,
Boxes 203 thru 205 are specific to the topic.